Every spring, college campuses become obsessed with internships. They become objects of fascination, envy and worry. The nigh fictitious paid, prestigious and rewarding internship feels like it could be just around the corner, but also feels completely unobtainable.
The hyper competitive nature of certain job markets and educational institutions are seen in the huge number of people applying to select positions, with a correspondingly massive number of rejections. People are spending their winters, and sometimes their falls, applying to dozens of internships, all in the hope that one will get back to them, that they will make it through the first rounds of selections and, maybe, be offered the position.
Thankfully, many of these sought-after opportunities offer a rewarding experience, providing exposure to a field that isn't possible within a purely academic environment. However, there is no doubting that many others provide little in the way of direct experience, that having the entry on a resume becomes the most valuable part of the entire summer. In conjunction with the number of rejections many college students receive, the probability that they will have a summer internship that leaves them with a greater understanding of their field is not high in the slightest.
I am by no means saying that internships don't offer valuable experiences, or advocating a return to decades past when summer internships were hardly considered, but the degree to which they absorb and preoccupy a student's attention is inordinate. While many scientific fields require lab experience and summer internships provide that opportunity when small colleges cannot, the majority of students seem to focus on the name they get to put on their resume, with the experience itself as a secondary concern.
Unfortunately, given how important the networking that takes place through these experiences can be to later jobs, it makes sense to prioritize prestige and connections. At many colleges and universities, the conversation revolves around New York and Washington, Goldman Sachs and Google, with the assumption that a well-placed internship will propel your career down the line. For those that secure one of a few prestigious internships, the internship often times does lead to a career path, but the mentality of name over most else pervades the entire discussion.
Although some
people need to go were the opportunities exist, either to filmmakers
and production in California or research labs at large universities,
we still need to ask how much the prestige or name means to us.
Whether it actually makes more sense to look at the situation of our
hometown before leaving for a different city, or whether working with
a small organization could be more beneficial than ignoring them.
College students are always doing incredible things the world over, and many of my hometown friends have interesting internships and are learning about things that matter to them. But after the dozens of rejections I have seen people receive, and the emphasis on prestige over fulfillment that takes center stage, college internships require more discussion. When it's rare to actually be offered a position somewhere within your specific area of interest, why does it feel necessary to have an internship listed for most summers? Are we using the opportunities to expand our knowledge across a range of subjects and fields, or just doing something so we can say we did? When paid internships are so rare outside of some areas of STEM, why do many of us spend so much to work in New York and other large cities?
This article may be more of a question than an answer, but I think the echoes around college campuses of “What are you doing this summer?” need to be adapted. “Why are you doing that this summer?” should to be a much more important part of our thought process, and hopefully incentivize summers where something is gained - more than another just another box checked.
